Stuck
by Heretohavefun
Summary: Ward and Skye are captured while on a mission together. What happens is far from good, but it may bring about Skye's defining moment. [Rated Teen for swearing and dark themes in later chapters] {Please R&R, I love to hear people's thoughts and critiques!}
1. Chapter 1

The pressure of his head on her lap was oddly comforting and reassuring. It reminded her that she wasn't necessarily here all alone; there was someone else in this with her. She sat up against the cold hard wall of the small unlit room and absently mindedly stroked the hair on his head. To say she had been counting the minutes would be an understatement. She had been counting the seconds since she had woken up in the pitch black room, paranoid about the time in which it would take her partner to rejoin the land of living and how long it would take them both to be rescued. The sudden change in movement as her partner's head gently eased off her lap made her jump a little, but she quickly relaxed when she realized what was happening.

"Skye?" He immediately asked voice raspy and quiet.

"Hey looks like the robot finally reboot. How you feeling super spy?"

"I've felt worse. How long was I out?" Ward asked moving his head out of Skye's lap and positioning his body up against the wall next to her.

"Since I woke up, you have been out for 1 hour 33 minutes and 7 seconds. Give or take a few seconds."

He nodded and began to get up off the ground. The room was so dark all Skye could make out was his silhouette even though he was literally standing right in front of her.

"Ward, don't bother, I spent like forever trying to find a way out. There is nothing. We're stuck."

After slowly moving around the room, hands running along each of the small four walls, and coming to his own, but same conclusion, Ward made his way back to Skye and sat back down next to her. "You good Rookie?"

"I'm fine. Just a little cold. It is cold in here right? That's not just me?"

"Not just you."

"Good. When do you think the team is going to bust in here and rescue us?"

"Soon. They'll come."

"Good. I'm getting kind of bored."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, until Skye decided that was enough.

"You know you never taught me how to hold up under torture. Are you up for giving a crash course?" Skye asked with a slight light heartedness to her tone.

"Skye."

"Ward."

"I'm not going to give you a crash course. It's not going to come to that. Don't worry. These guys didn't have a history of violence or anything. We are going to be fine. We just have to be patient."

"But-"

"Skye don't worry."

"Fine," Skye said. "I'm not good at being patient though," she mumbled.

They fall back into the solemn silence once again, not saying a word to each other. Suddenly the once pitch back room is filled with bright white light. Ward darts up immediately, the sudden change seems to not faze him. On the other hand, Skye takes a moment to gather her bearings, the abrupt contrast from being in total darkness and now in bright light causing her to be momentarily blinded as her senses adjust. She quickly gets up though, and stands behind a battle ready Ward.

There is a large bang as a door opens and slams against the wall. They had both felt the indentation of the door in the wall before, but it was no help to them because there were neither hinges on the wall nor a doorknob on the actual door itself. It was one way, and they were not the right way. Three large, buff, fairly ugly, men walk into the room, and another stands in guard in the doorway. There is no better way to describe their demeanor other than to say they were all the epitome of pure ugly anger.

"Take the girl," the largest of the group said in a harsh Russian accent. To his left, his partner moves forward in an attempt to grab Skye, but Ward blocks him and sends his fist crashing into the man's face. The man stumbles backward onto the floor and almost instantaneously out of nowhere; Ward is seizing and falls to the ground in a fit. The last of the three had pulled a Taser gun and had shot an unexpecting Ward.

"Ward!" Skye yells as she follows him to the ground as he seizes and shakes from the high electrical jolts being given to his body.

"Grab her now," the leader says, and the man that had originally tried to grab Skye forcefully rips her up off the ground and begins to drag her out of the room. She kicks and screams, but it is little use considering the man dragging her away is at least three times her size.

"Ward! Ward! Grant!" Skye yells desperately. She cranes her head to look back into the room only to see Ward still lying tensely on the floor. Skye sees the other man smash his boot into Ward's head, rendering him completely unconscious. This gives Skye a sudden boost of energy and she thrashes against the man and yells profanities against him. "LET GO YOU FUCKIN ASSHOLE! GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!" Skye screams, but even though she is squirming, and kicking, and thrashing about, the man's grip only tightens and she is led out of the room completely and down a dimly lit hall, away from Ward.


	2. Chapter 2

Skye is pretty much thrown into a chair in the middle of another dark dingy room. It wasn't quite as dark as the one she had been stuck in before with Ward, but it was definitely getting pretty close. She is pushed into a proper sitting position by one of the men and her wrists and legs are forced into metals cuffs attached to the chair. He gets it done quickly and backs away, exiting the room. Now it was just the leader with her, the others all gone. The man was tall and hefty. Most of his face was covered by a thick brown beard and his large nose could not be missed. His eyes were cold and menacing and Skye could not help but shiver as they looked her up and down.

"What the hell do you want?"

"What do I want?" He asks sternly, his thick Russian accent making him sound angrier then he actually was. "I want to know what SHIELD knows."

"Well Buddy, you screwed up then, because I'm not even an agent yet. I know shit." Skye says putting all her strength into her words, trying to make herself seem brave and not scared like she really was.

"Oh is that true? Cause I have information that you were hired by Shield because you are hacker." The Russian man steps closer to her so his face is barely within inches of Skye's. "You have had access to a lot of Shield information. Trust me you know what I want to know."

Skye spits in his face. She probably shouldn't have done that, but he was just so close and it was really all she could think of doing, and Skye has never really been good at controlling her impulses either. In response the Russian growls and steps back slightly, wiping the spit of his face with the sleeve of his shirt. He gives Skye a hard glare and slaps her across the face hard, to the point where her whole face jerks to the right. Skye slowly moves her head back into a normal position and glares at her captor.

"Fuck you." She says with a little less power than she would have liked.

"Let's start over, shall we?" The Russian says as he meticulously and slowly rolls up the sleeves of his white button down formal shirt. He seemed to be dressed pretty well for a guy that kidnaps and beats people, like his white shirts must get stained pretty quickly in his line of work. He finishes rolling up his sleeves and begins to speak again.

"My name is Sebok. You will tell me what I want to know, or you will be punished. Is that clear?"

"Crystal." Skye says bitterly.

"Good. To start, who is your commanding officer?"

"Your mom," Skye answers immediately and almost just as immediately she receives another hard slap to her face.

"Not funny. How about another question? What is Centipede?"

"Did you not go to preschool or something? Centipedes? Really? Couldn't you just Google it instead of beating me up over some fricken creepy crawly with a hundred legs?" As she expects, Skye receives another slap to the face.

"You know, next time could you slap the other side? I want both sides of my face to be equally red and bruised. Then it will look like I wanted it that way." Instead this comment does not receive a slap, but instead a hard punch right in the middle of her face. Skye's head whips back and she quickly feels a pounding throbbing sensation all across her face. As she tilts her head forward, back to normal, she feels a warm hot liquid leek out of her nose. Blood streams down her face from her nose and drips in a constant rhythm onto her jeans. She naturally tries to raise a hand to stop it, only to remember her hands are locked into the chair.

"Come on dude? Do you know how hard it is to get blood out of clothes?" Skye said trying to ignore the pain in her face.

"Stop being a bitch and you won't have to worry about any more blood staining your little outfit." Sebok stepped closer to Skye, invading into her personal space much like the last time when she had spit on him for it. This time Sebok made the first move, and grabbed Skye's hair and yanked her head back hard. He held it there for a moment wanting Skye to relish in the discomfort. She didn't look at him, she just stared at the ceiling and swallowed hard as she felt and tasted the blood from her nasal cavity run down the back of her throat and into her mouth.

"Centipede. Tell me what it is."

Skye kept her mouth shut which she knew was sure to piss Sebok off, but she just kept on thinking about what any other real shield agent would do in this situation. Ward may have not taught her how to hold up under torture, but what better way to learn than to figure it out as you go.

When a minute passed without Skye giving him and answer, Sebok yanked her had back harder and further, and a small pained grunt escaped from Skye.

"That's how you want to do this then? Maybe I will just beat the answers out of you. How does that sound?"

It sounded awful, but Skye knew she wasn't going to tell him anything without putting up a fight. Skye kept her mouth shut again, and didn't reply to his comment.

"Fine then, you little stubborn bitch. More fun for me."

Sebok released Skye's hair from his hold and let her head fall back into place. He gave her a creppy little smile and without hesitation plowed his fist into her stomach. Skye grunted involuntarily and keened over in the chair as much as her restraints allowed. The punch knocked all the wind out of her and made her feel like she was going to vomit all the contents of her stomach onto the floor.

"Is that all you got?" Skye said shakily, straightening up, trying to recover from the blow.

"You only wish." Sebok sneers, and delivers another forceful punch, this time more centered on her ribs.

Skye winced as she thought she felt (or maybe herd) a crack. He repeated the action on her other side and it hurt just as bad. Tears began to pool in her eyes, but she would not let him see he cry.

"I am not going to tell you anything." Skye was rewarded with yet another punch and another after that. The cycle repeated for several minutes until Skye was bloody and bruised.

"It is such a shame to have to wreck a pretty face like yours." Sebok says quietly, but purposely loud enough for Skye to hear, as he steps away from her calmly rubbing the knuckles on his right fist and staring down at the floor a hardened intense questioning expression consuming his face.

"Ready to talk?" Sebok asks looking directly at Skye's small crushed broken form. She gave him her best glare possible and gave her head a very small shake from side to side. She had not said a word through it all and wasn't planning on saying anything anytime soon. Looking at Sebok, Skye could tell he was losing it. He was getting very angry now, expecting her to have broken a while ago.

"Fuckin tell me bitch!" he yelled and in a fit of rage kicked Skye's chair backwards. She and it fell to the floor with a thud. The sudden impact of the chair and her body strapped to it hitting the cold concrete floor just made everything hurt ten times more. Skye let out a pained moan and stared up at the ceiling wondering when it would all be over. Maybe she would pass out with another few punches and Sebok would be done with his torment. Maybe Ward would come in somehow and be her knight in shining armor, like that time at Quinn's party. Maybe the rest of her team would just come busting through the door at any moment and save her from the hell she put herself in.

Sebok grabbed the back of her chair and roughly pulled it up from the ground and placed it back to normal. The movement made Skye dizzy. She let her head droop forward, chin to chest, in hopes that the room would just stop spinning. Even though Skye knew Sebok was behind her, but that didn't stop her heart from racing as she felt his nasty breath on the back of her neck behind her ear.

"Let's try a different approach," he whispers.


	3. Chapter 3

When Grant Ward awoke he found himself in darkness again. However, this time he was much less comfortable. Before he had awoken with his head gently resting in Skye's lap, and now he had woke up on the cold hard ground. He quickly stood up, remembering everything that had happened earlier in the room. The sudden movement made him dizzy, but he blocked it out like he had been trained to do and focused on the now.

"Skye?" Ward called out into the darkness of the room.

His stomach dropped when there was no answer. He slowly made his way around the room, hoping to find her on the floor or something, unconscious, but there with him, in the room, relatively safe. Unfortunately, Skye was not there and Ward punched his fist against the wall when he realized this.

"Shit," he said softly. Millions of different scenarios of what could be happening to Skye, his rookie, ran rampant through his head. She had been right before. He should have taught her how to handle herself in a situation like torture because that is what they were probably doing to her now. He should have taught her how to protect herself more. He should have been a better S.O, and he fully realized that now.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened again and the room's lights were switched on once again. Ward turned around to face the door, prepared and ready for whatever came through this time.

At first nobody came through, it was just an open door and he contemplated running out, but his gut told him to stay, that something wasn't right. His gut was right because only a minute or two later Skye was showered into the room, by one of the men from the before. The door closed behind her, but this time the lights were left on, filling the room with a yellow glow.

Skye didn't move at first. She just stood and stared at the floor, quite. This allowed Ward to take in the sight before him fully.

First off, Skye was barely clothed. She had a purple bra and underwear on and that was it. Second, her hair was a mess. The ponytail she had it in before, was practically gone: loose pieces hung close to her face, the actual pony tail itself sagging down by the base of her neck instead of its usual place in the center back of her head. Third, from what Ward saw when she had entered and what he could see now, since her head was down, her face looked bloody, and by the looks of it, the source had been her nose. Fourth, although her arms hugged her midsection, Ward could tell it was black and blue with bruises. The bruises didn't stop there though. They were everywhere and they must be bad if they had been showing this quickly. He also noticed that one of her knees had a good sized cut on it, which left a line of blood down her leg pooling at her ankle.

"Skye," he said softly, unsure of what to say. She looked up at him and the look she gave him made his heart break.

Skye gave a half-hearted little side grin and walked over past him to the wall she had been sitting up against originally. She slid down it and sat herself unto the floor, curling her legs up to her chest and resting her arms on her knees. She let out a breath a just stared blankly forward.

The sight made Ward angry and sad at the same time, but mostly angry. Look at what they did to his Rookie. She was beat up and bruised and broken. He was mad at himself for not protecting her and he was made at them for hurting her. He just wanted to kill them all. He wanted to make them hurt like how she must be now. He wanted to punch his way out of this stupid room and make them all pay for hurting Skye.

But that wasn't possible right now. What was possible was being there for his Rookie, and she defiantly needed someone right now.

Ward walked over to her and sat down against the wall next to her. He gave her a little room, not siting to close, but also not far enough where he would seem cold or distant.

"Looks like I could have used that crash course after all," Skye said. She tried to make it a joke, but her weak voice just made it sound somber and depressing.

"Skye I'm-"

"It's fine Ward," she said softly cutting him off. She still looked off into the distance, seemingly focused on something on the back wall of the room.

"Did they-"

"Ward," Skye said shakily and quiet, but still cutting him off again.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments. Ward didn't want say anything to her, unsure of what would be okay to say to her right now. Skye stayed quiet because she thought if she stared to talk she may lose it and she really didn't want to break down right now. But then again, talking always made her feel better.

"I didn't end up telling them anything," she mumbled.

"You should have." Ward said quietly in reply.

"Why?" Skye asked puzzled. She turned her head to face Ward, wondering what his answer could possibly be.

Ward turned his head to look at her and breathed in. "If you had told them what they wanted, you wouldn't have had to get hurt. It wasn't your job to stay quiet; you're not an agent yet."

Skye didn't know what to say back. It was true, she wasn't an agent yet, but she also knew that not giving Sebok what he wanted was also just doing the right thing and Skye had wanted to do the right thing.

"That was kind nice for a Robot to say," Skye mumbled softly.

"Well I'm not actually a Robot so you know I do say nice things when the time is right," Ward joked back and Skye actually gave a little tiny laugh. She smiled and slowly scooted closer to him, partly for the warmth, because she was actually freezing, and partly for the comfort. Skye rested her head on Ward's shoulder and let out a small sigh.

"You're pretty comfortable for someone who is supposed to be made of metal."

Ward smiled and looked down at his rookie. She had now closed her eyes and was resting comfortably up against him and he did not mind one bit. It was the least he could do for her now.

"Mind if I take a little nap?" Skye mumbled under her breath sounding extremely tired.

"Go right ahead Rook."

He waited for another remark, particularly because he knew Skye didn't really like the rookie nickname, but one never came. Skye was already fast asleep on Ward's shoulder and he was happy to just let her rest.


	4. NOTE

Hi everyone! So I have not updated this story in months. Sorry. I just kind of lost that writing bug and life got in the way I guess.

So sorry about that.

I am debating to continue on with it. One part of me thinks I probably could make it work and the other part of me thinks I have neglected it for to long to really continue on with the story.

If people think otherwise, leave a comment down below because it will help me decide. I mean I won't continue it if people aren't really going to be interested in reading it anyway.

If I do continue, maybe I can wrap this whole thing up with a few chapters, I'm not really sure. I don't even remember where I was going with this, so if you have any thoughts of how it should continue and end, leave a comment or PM me!

THANK YOU!


	5. Chapter 4

_**NEXT CHAPTER! WHOO! Sorry it took so long. But to make up for that I tried to make it pretty long. I am going to try to be better about updating it I think that's about it! Have fun reading and tell me how you like it! (Wrote this super quick, at like 2-4 am so their are probably grammar/spelling mistakes. I am sorry, but if I didn't get it done now then it would never get done.)**_

Ward was worried. He was worried for Skye. He knew the realities of the situation and although he probably wouldn't admit it out loud, he was scared for what could happen next.

They would probably take her again and do something much worse than before.

They probably figure that she has no training, she is smaller, weaker, and eventual she will break under the torture, much sooner than if they tried to do anything against him.

They probably would make him watch whatever was done to her next- a basic torture strategy.

Needless to say, he really didn't want to watch. He suspected that she had been beaten before, and when she didn't break they had raped her. He knew it was often a common torture strategy when women were involved, but he never imagined in a million years that Skye, his rookie, not even an agent yet, would have to endure something as hideous as that. And if they had resorted to rape in the first round, then well, round two would almost definitely break her. He couldn't watch that happen.

It had been about an hour since Skye had drifted off to sleep, resting against Ward's shoulder.

With a small shake, he tried to get her to wake up. Skye probably had a concussion and he couldn't let her sleep for too long; it was risky.

"Skye."

She let out a soft groan. "Five more minutes," she mumbled and tried to bury her face deeper into Ward's shoulder.

"Just wake up for a few minutes," Ward said, moving so Skye couldn't lean on his shoulder anymore, but he still supported her, pushing her up right. She kept her eyes closed, through all the movement, and leaned her head back against the wall.

"Come 'on Skye, at least open your eyes."

"Fine," Skye said, very slowly opening her eyes, only to see Ward starring directly at her. "Hello there," she said softly, still groggy.

"Just look at me for a second, I need to check your pupils."

Skye complies and keeps her eyes open for Ward.

"You know if we weren't stuck in this shit hole, I would say, you staring into my eyes all deeply like this, meant that you had some feelings for me Mr. Robot man."

"I'm glad to see you still have a sense of humor Skye." Ward backed off a little and Skye gave a little smile.

"Your pupils are totally shot, does your head hurt?"

"Everything hurts Ward. My head is the least of my problems I think."

"You have a concussion Skye."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"You shouldn't go back to sleep, you have to stay awake."

"Are you serious Ward? Not just a little nap?" Skye whined.

"No," Ward said very seriously.

Skye groaned. All she wanted to do was sleep. Sleep just seemed so appealing right now. Skye was extremely tired and felt like she could sleep for a week. As an added bonus, sleep allowed her to forget about all the pain she was feeling, and in ways it was an escape, a way for her not to feel trapped and broken in whatever this place was that she and Ward were stuck in.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and unintentionally Skye began to drift off to sleep again, her eyes drooping close without her consent. Ward noticed this and gave her a little shove and Skye unhappily opened her eyes again.

"I mean it Skye, you have to stay awake," Ward said, perhaps a little more harshly then he intended to.

"Go try being someone's personal punching bag and then you can come back and tell me to stay awake, okay Ward?" Skye said a little angrily. She wasn't actually angry at Ward; she was just frustrated more than anything.

"Skye, I didn't mean it like that," Ward said, feeling guilty. He knew it was hard for her to stay awake. He's been in her position before and he knows that when you're beat up, bloody, and bruised, all you want to do is close your eyes and rest for a few minutes.

"I know you didn't," Skye said softly, "I just, I don't know."

"It's fine."

It falls silent for a few more minutes, until Ward notices that Skye is shivering.

"You cold?" He asks

"Freezing," Skye replies, and scoots closer to Ward, trying to gain some worth from his body heat.

They had taken all of her clothes besides her undergarments leaving her in nothing to protect herself from the cold air in the room. The room was cold even before, when she had clothes on, but now Skye felt like she was sitting butt naked in the middle of the artic or something.

"Would it kill them to put a little heat on?" Skye said playfully. Ward wraps his arm around her shoulder, allowing her to nestle closer into him. When his hand touches down on her arm, he feels how cold she actually is. Skye's skin might as well have been ice. Ward was almost surprised that she felt this cold, but then he realized that her body was in protection mode after the beating she endured. All of her blood would be flowing to her core, her vital organs, to make sure she was she was still alive and well; blood that makes you warm that hovers around your skin would all be pushed to her center, where it was most needed.

Without a second thought, Ward decided she needed to warm up, and there was a simple solution. He unrevealed his arm from around Skye and pushed her off slightly. Quickly, he tugged his shirt up and over his head, pulling it off.

"Um Ward what are you doing?" Skye asks, giving Ward a questioning confused look.

"You need this more than me," he says, and drops the black shirt in her lap.

"Ahh thank you?" Skye says unsurely, picking up the shirt out of her lap. It was actually quite warm.

"You're freezing and you're wearing nothing. It's what SOs do, they help out their Rookie."

Skye nods her head and gives Ward a smile. She attempts to put the shirt on, but it is easier said than done. She was awfully sore, especially her ribs, and every move she made caused her pain. Skye moaned and groaned, with ever movement, but eventually got the shirt on. It was a bit big, but it was better that way.

Leaning back into Ward, she let out a small "thank you," and returned to silence once again. The silence was nice, it was calming, and relaxing, and peaceful, yet in some ways it made Skye feel anxious.

"They're going to come back. I didn't give them what they want, and they're going to come back," Skye said out of the blue.

At first Ward didn't know how to reply. She was absolutely right and he knew that, but he also knew that's probably not what she wants to hear. She probably wants to hear something reassuring like "no they won't", but in reality they most definitely will, so it was better to just tell her as it is; get her ready, get her prepared.

"You're right. They are going to come back, but I'm not letting them take you without a fight."

"I don't know if I will be able to keep my mouth shut next time Ward." Skye says it with almost no feeling. She said it like a plain old fact, because that is what it was. Deep down Skye knew that next time she wasn't going to be able to hold it together because next time Sebok said it would be worse. He personally told her that, and his words now echoed in her head over and over.

"Skye you can't think like that."

"Before, you were about to ask me if they raped me, but I cut you off. They, well he, his name is Sebok, he didn't. He wanted to, I could see it, but he held back. He just made me strip and then he touched every bruise and cut, and every time he would touch one, he would push into it until I screamed. After a while he got bored with that, cause I wouldn't tell him anything, so he gave me a choice; tell him what he wanted now or, I could go back to the cell for a bit and he would start again later, and next time he wouldn't hold back, he would go till I was barely hanging on to life if that is what it would take. That is what he told me."

"Skye-"

The door to the room slammed open before Ward could get out another word, startling them both.

Two arm guards rushed in, guns at the ready.

"YOU TO UP, NOW!" One of the men said, motioning with his gun for both Skye and Ward to stand. With guns pointed at their heads they complied willingly. Ward stood tall and looked pissed, whereas Skye tried to look brave, but her eyes gave her tough girl front away, and she really just looked like she was about to cry.

One of the guards walked out the door and the other motioned for Ward and Skye to follow.

"Move!" he yelled and they did. Ward grabbed Skye's hand and led her out of the room following the first guard. The other guard followed right behind them, pointing his gun right at the back of Skye's head.

They were lead down a maze of dimly lit hallways and eventually arrived at a set of double doors. The looked like something you would see in a kitchen or a lab- metal with small windows near the top. You couldn't see through the glass however, because they were filthy. The guards moved behind Skye and Ward, leaving the pair to face the two doors.

Pushing the guns into their backs, the men said,

"Get your asses through there NOW!"

"You have till the count of three!"

Ward looked at Skye and Ward could tell she was beyond scared.

"ONE!"

Skye shook her head, silently pleading, not wanting to go through. She couldn't go through it again.

"TWO!"

Ward gave Skye's hand a small squeeze, and gave her a reassuring nod. He would do everything and anything to protect her.

"THREE!"


	6. Chapter 5

**I have not updated this story in forever and I'm sorry. Life got in the way. Anyways, here is another chapter. I wrote it pretty quickly, within an hour or two so its probs not that good, but I hope you guys like it anyway! COMMENT DOWN BELOW. I ALWAYS LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU GUYS!**

The thing about split second decisions, is that you only have a fraction of a second to think everything through. At best, two outcomes will pop into your head, one where everything turns out alright and one where everything goes to shit. And because split second decisions most often occur in high adrenaline situations where you really are not thinking clearly and often don't have a lot to lose, you embrace your split second decision and cling to the fact that although probably a very small chance, one possible outcome is that everything turns out alright.

Ward is a master at split second decisions -every SHIELD agent is. Within the time that any average person would be able to formulate a plan and contemplate the two possible opposite outcomes, Ward would have already thought of three different methods with twelve different outcomes- all within that same second. It is what he has been trained to do.

Skye on the other hand has not.

And Skye is impulsive.

So as her heart started beating faster, while Ward squeezed her hand in empty reassurance, as the guard counted down, as ideas of what they could do to her on the other side of those doors filled her head, when she heard that last number just barely pierce the air, she made a split second decision.

The guard had yelled "THREE" and in that moment, Skye had quickly turned around and grabbed the gun that only a second before had been trained on the back of her head. She grabbed and tugged and the weapon was ripped from his hands and was now in hers.

And for a split second it had seemed that maybe her plan was actually working, she had gotten the gun, but that feeling of hope was violently and painfully ripped away as a shot rang out and Skye crumpled to the floor.

Her split second decision had not accounted for the other guard- a rookie mistake.

The gun dropped from Skye's hands as she fell to the floor grabbing hold of her right thigh where the bullet had pierced.

It all had happened so quickly that Ward had not even had time to move. He still stood with his back to the guards still as a statue, trying to not make the situation any worse. Ward peered down to his right where Skye was lying in agony on the floor, blood pouring from her thigh. His hands clenched into fists as he looked at her. He was furious- they had hurt her again. Even worse, he had failed to protect her again.

As the disarmed guard reached down to retrieve his gun, the other forcefully pushed his own against Ward's bare back.

"PICK HER UP AND GO. THROUGH. THE. DOORS." Obviously the guard was done with all the shenanigans.

Ward wanted badly to just kill both of them and run away with Skye, but he knew that right now was probably not the best moment to put up a fight and so he complied.

He slowly bent down next to Skye who was lying on the floor, fiercely trying not to cry, as she clenched her thigh where she had been hit. Ward gently brushed her hair away from her forehead trying to calm her down.

That was something people did right? Brush a person's forehead to soothe them? It seemed right.

"Skye, I got to pick you up ok?"

Skye didn't make any acknowledgment of hearing what he said. Her eyes where fixated on some spot on the ceiling and not on Ward who was hovering above her.

"Skye look at me." Her eyes wandered over to Ward. When she looked at him, his heart ached. Her eyes were filled with just pure fear and pure pain.

"GET A MOVE ON!" one of the guards yelled.

"Skye this is going to hurt ok?" Skye bit her lip and quickly nodded her head as Ward snaked his arms under her legs and back. Without any further warning, he hosted her up into his arms and Skye let out something of a small pained scream.

It had hurt her and Ward hated himself for causing it.

Now standing with Skye in his arms, he stood in front of the guards glaring at them.

Motioning with their guns, the guards in unison sternly yelled a "GO," but Ward just stood there contemplating the situation.

The guards wouldn't kill them. If they were allowed to shoot to kill, Skye would be dead in his arms right now. The guard had clearly fired a shot to maim not kill. If he had wanted Skye dead, he had the opportunity to, but did not take it.

If he brought Skye through those doors, she could very well die. She was already losing a lot of blood and her previous beating was not helping her situation. She wouldn't last another round.

But he couldn't stand there forever. Ward wished he could stay in this limbo between death and not, but the guards would not allow it.

"MOVE!" one of the men yelled.

He looked down at Skye who was nestling her head into his bare chest. She was giving her head little shakes as she whispered "no, no, no, no" over and over again.

Ward wanted so desperately to fight. He wanted to do what he was trained to do, but he couldn't. He was trained to be the whole solution because it would always have just been him alone. Skye was an added variable that he wasn't trained for. He couldn't risk losing her because he wanted to flex his muscles and try to be a superhero and break them out. He wouldn't do that, so the only other option was to go through the doors.

And that's exactly what he did. He slowly stepped backward pushing the metal double doors open with his back. It seemed like the right decision, but when Ward turned around, taking in the full view of the room, he wished he had never gone through those doors.


End file.
